Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Running Outside Your Country

I haven't done much running outside of America.  Plenty of runs and races outside of Illinois--who doesn't travel to ultramarathons around their region--but only one race so far outside of the States.  I did the Canadian Death Race in 2010.  Sorta. You can read my short summary of that experience from my August 12, 2010 blog post. While that race didn't go well, it sure did excite me about running, and racing, outside of my comfort zone. Canada was beautiful. Other countries must also offer gorgeous venues for running, right?

I wouldn't mind heading back to Canada for a race or two, and I already have my eye on a 2013 Nicaraguan 50km race, but those are for next year and beyond. What about today? Tomorrow? Next week? I have an answer to those questions!  I will be running, not racing, in Turkey and Greece this week and next. Just some basic, short runs to keep in shape and "see the sights" in a different way. Everyone visits the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, but how many run around it?  Millions of tourists walk (slowly) to the top of the Acropolis in Athens, but who runs around that sucker?  Hopefully me. I'll share pictures upon my return. Hope I don't get caught up in the Greek national elections...or the Euro Cup 2012 craziness...at least not too caught up.

Best part of this upcoming trip?  Meeting up with my wife who has been in Turkey for 10 days already. Running is awesome, but wives are pretty special too.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Chris, keep me posted about Fuego y Agua. I have already been thinking about doing this next year as well. The race directors live in Austin, and gave a presentation about it a month or two ago. It looks really awesome.
Brian

Anonymous said...

Good luck with your running and I hope you'll have a great time both in Greece and Turkey. Unfortunately this is not the best time to visit Greece but things here are much better than they appear on the news. Had you already been in Greece yesterday I hope you got the chance to run on an open training that there was around most of the historic center. The running community in Greece is becoming bigger year by year.
Iakovos

Chris Ⓥ said...

Still in Istanbul. Greece on Tuesday after elections!

Chris Ⓥ said...

Rob in st Louis is interested too. Maybe a buffalo "road" trip.

Ruairi said...

I am planning to go home to Ireland this year, hoping to hit the mountains at some point during the stay if I can. If no official race, then I'll run up and down the hills a few minutes from my house! (an idea of the area in this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=VskpRVaZUu0

:) happy running.

Chris Ⓥ said...

Ireland looks great for running. I was in Scotland and england a few years ago. Both were beautiful.